AML/Compliance/KYC professionals come in!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi may I know what's wrong with being an aml investigator? I would think it is an interesting job or am I wrong?

There is nothing wrong with being an AML investigator. Similarly, you have to assess how old are you and what you want in your career. If you are young (i.e. below 30), you have to ask yourself if you are REALLY OK to just do investigation for the rest of your career (i.e. 20-30 years). As an investigator, there is a ceiling, and if you do not develop other skill set, you will be stuck at a specific level, i.e. AVP or max you can be a AML investigator at VP level.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, sorry for the amateur question but how do i become an aml investigator? Would CDD experience allow me entry? Thank you.

CDD experience may/may not allow you entry. There is a demand of investigators and the supply is very low. CDD and transaction monitoring are foundations, which you need, in order to move on to other roles within AML. If you are lucky enough to get an interview, it all boils down to how you impress your interviewer, by having the ability to connect your CDD knowledge into investigation. There is no course to learn, to be an investigator. Even ex-police, don't always make the best investigator. A lot of it, are on the job training. It is ultimately, the ability to translate your CDD/TM knowledge into investigation skills.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Do you guys think most of the AML jobs would get replaced by AI in near future?

Not most of the job, but a significant number (maybe 50%) in the next 5 - 10 years. The tricky part is, more global banks are looking into AI, because they are spending a lot of money (in billions) in AML resources, but the end result (i.e. number of STR filed, number of suspicious clients identified) remains low. The same banks have huge numbers of people clearly false positives (whether it is name screening or transaction monitoring), and eventually, these group of people will be replaced by technology, which can identify true positive better.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

CDD experience may/may not allow you entry. There is a demand of investigators and the supply is very low. CDD and transaction monitoring are foundations, which you need, in order to move on to other roles within AML. If you are lucky enough to get an interview, it all boils down to how you impress your interviewer, by having the ability to connect your CDD knowledge into investigation. There is no course to learn, to be an investigator. Even ex-police, don't always make the best investigator. A lot of it, are on the job training. It is ultimately, the ability to translate your CDD/TM knowledge into investigation skills.

Isn't transaction monitoring considered under or a part of investigations? Or by investigators, do you mean level 3 transaction monitoring? The FIU?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There is nothing wrong with being an AML investigator. Similarly, you have to assess how old are you and what you want in your career. If you are young (i.e. below 30), you have to ask yourself if you are REALLY OK to just do investigation for the rest of your career (i.e. 20-30 years). As an investigator, there is a ceiling, and if you do not develop other skill set, you will be stuck at a specific level, i.e. AVP or max you can be a AML investigator at VP level.

Hi, I assume you are the original poster who asked about transiting from investigations to risk management? Have you considered crossing over into general compliance/AML advisory since such is a governance function which exists to mitigate and manage financial crime and regulatory risks?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

CDD experience may/may not allow you entry. There is a demand of investigators and the supply is very low. CDD and transaction monitoring are foundations, which you need, in order to move on to other roles within AML. If you are lucky enough to get an interview, it all boils down to how you impress your interviewer, by having the ability to connect your CDD knowledge into investigation. There is no course to learn, to be an investigator. Even ex-police, don't always make the best investigator. A lot of it, are on the job training. It is ultimately, the ability to translate your CDD/TM knowledge into investigation skills.

Actually what does AML investigation do exactly? Isnt transaction monitoring doing the investigation already?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

CDD experience may/may not allow you entry. There is a demand of investigators and the supply is very low. CDD and transaction monitoring are foundations, which you need, in order to move on to other roles within AML. If you are lucky enough to get an interview, it all boils down to how you impress your interviewer, by having the ability to connect your CDD knowledge into investigation. There is no course to learn, to be an investigator. Even ex-police, don't always make the best investigator. A lot of it, are on the job training. It is ultimately, the ability to translate your CDD/TM knowledge into investigation skills.

1) I am in transaction monitoring as my first job since i graduate. What is the prospect and career path of transaction monitoring?

2) I wanted to go into AML Advisory or sanctions. Is it hard?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Realistically, what are the chances of everyone becoming a regional head? In big banks, there are a few hundreds AML / Compliance practitioners and only 1 regional head. Unless you are superstar, which in reality, most people are not, you should have a more realistic dream.

Sanctions is not the highest paid. Pay goes with experiences, along with how good you are, to a certain extent. Additionally, Sanctions is a very niche coverage. To reach the top, you have very very limited roles that you can take. In a bigger banks, you might have a small team of people focusing on Sanctions, in Singapore. There are limited growth for these group of people as well, so likely, they will stay in their job for a long while.

Additionally, its not necessary adviser - regional adviser - regional head. There are many routes and it depends on the size of the FIs. You can move from regional adviser (small bank) to a country advisory (big bank) or country head (med-sized bank). If you are fixated with one route, your career will be stuck very quickly.

So AML vs Sanctions, which one got better prospect?

depens on what kind of investigations.many peoples idea of investigations is just tm alerts, which while not wrong, is not entirely correct.

Tm is system generated, typically will be looking at one months worth of clients transactions, depending how your alerts are generated. Case write up generally less complex.

Investigations usually much more complex, could involve multiple clients and accounts over a specific time period, and case resolution is typically much lengthier and spectrum of issues could be wider given the volume of info reviewed. All these has to b condensed into a readable and accurate report detailing your findings and highlight actions or recommendations.

Agree that alert clearing positions will b stuck at most to a vp as sad to say banks treat alerts as part of ops and something which doesnt need much skill or more for junior people. Real investigator role, may have more room for promotion but depends on the bank you are at. Many places do not differentiate alert clearing with investigations and do not have positions for more complex investigations.

End of the day, still about combing throught transactions to determine whether there are potential suspicions. But an experienced person will b able to identify risks which many so called investigators cant and conduct the investigations in an efficient manner. many people tend to dismiss certain issues easily for fear of doing more work, stirring **** etc.

Why do people here say it's a bad thing to be stuck at VP? That's manager level, and the truth is, majority of people don't make it past that no matter what industry you're talking about.